Modest Beijing Olympic torch relay begins 2 days ahead of opening

The Beijing Olympic torch relay kicked off in a modest manner in the center of the capital on Wednesday amid lingering concern over the COVID-19 pandemic, just two days before the opening of the global sporting event.

Around 1,200 people are set to join the three-day torch relay that started at Beijing’s Olympic Forest Park. The event has been scaled back to ensure the health and safety of the public against the backdrop of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

By smoothly running the Olympics, the leadership of President Xi Jinping, which has been keen to make the games a success to enhance national prestige, is believed to be trying to dispel the negative image of a “diplomatic boycott” initiated by the United States.

A Beijing Olympic torchbearer departs from the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing on Feb. 2, 2022, as the torch relay starts ahead of the Winter Games opening two days later. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Beijing Olympic torchbearers are scheduled to visit some of China’s World Heritage sites such as the Great Wall and the Summer Palace royal garden.

With fears growing about another wave of infections, the relay will only be carried out in Beijing and Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province — one of the three Winter Olympic hubs located 200 kilometers northwest of the capital.

The relay will also feature robots that will exchange the Olympic flame underwater and autonomous vehicles, as China is making efforts to demonstrate its state-of-the-art technology to the world.

A Beijing Olympic torchbearer departs from the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing on Feb. 2, 2022, as the torch relay starts ahead of the Winter Games opening two days later. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The Olympic flame for the Beijing Olympics arrived in the capital in October 2021 from Athens, Greece. On Friday, Beijing will become the first city to hold both the summer and winter games.

In October, people protesting against the Beijing Olympics over human rights issues in China disrupted a ceremony at ancient Olympia in western Greece, while the United States and some democratic countries have announced they will stage a diplomatic boycott.

The diplomatic boycott, which would not affect the participation of athletes, is seen as a response to China’s alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in its far-western Xinjiang region that the United States has labeled a “genocide.”

In 2008, the torch relay of the Beijing Summer Olympics was conducted across China.